We've all heard that it costs money to make money, right?
Do you remember the first big investment you made into your business?
I do... and it was SCARY.
I remember being nervous, excited, and a little nauseous as I wrote the first check to join my first mastermind for $10,000.
At the time, I was coming off a nearly year-long maternity leave with my twins.
We'd made ends meet with Jameson's teaching salary and a couple of clients I was working with on the side... but reality was hitting us that I needed to dramatically ramp up my business to support my family.
Investing $10,000 into my business seemed like a huge stretch for us.
But as Jameson and I talked about the vision I had for this business - one that would allow me to support our family while working from home - we knew that it was time to commit 100% and go all in.
That decision to?commit?made all the difference.
It instantly shifted my mindset from?"How am I going to afford this mastermind? How can I handle this added expense to my business?" to?"How many clients do I need to make back this investment? How can I get a Return on Investment?"
I realized I just needed 2 new consulting clients.
Suddenly it didn't seem so scary to make that investment.
In this episode, I want to share with you the ROI of thinking like a CEO - how we can make smart decisions about when, where, and how we spend our money to grow our business::
5:30 The big question I always ask myself when it comes to spending money in my business - is this an expense? Or is this an investment?
6:26 The different types of return I'm looking for when I spend money in my business including ROI, ROT, and ROE
11:00 Why I see marketing, branding, and photography as an INVESTMENT into my business because it reflects the quality and value of my offers - and where I'm actually investing in these areas.
14:30 Just to be clear - not everyone needs to invest this much into their brand at the early stages of your business or when your brand isn't holding you back from getting more clients or growing your business. Be discerning and only invest when you have a clear reason why!
16:03 Entrepreneurs are resourceful and will Google all day to figure things out! But it's a huge waste of our time. Hiring support is one of the best ways to buy back your time.
19:00 How you can not only get buy back your time - but get a return on investing in a team member - when you use that saved time to serve clients or attract new clients.
23:45 No one really talks about this unless you are surrounded by other high-performing entrepreneurs and business owners - but the best investment is investing in yourself!
24:46 "Your income seldom exceeds personal development." - Jim Rohn
24:48 These stats SHOCK me - Did you know that 1/3 of high-school grads never read any other book for the rest of their lives. 80% of families haven't read a book in the last year!
25:35 The level of success we experience in our outer world is simply the mirror reflection of our self-identity and personal development of our inner world. We all have a set-point, an internal thermostat, for the level of development. The only way to increase your internal set-point? Personal development.
28:15 Why high-performers invest 10% of their income back into their personal development and the lesson I learned from Darren Hardy about how he approaches investing into his development with books, courses, conferences, and coaching.
29:50 In the early stages of our business, we invest into mastering our craft and learning the other skills required to run a business.
31:15 As you start to grow, investing into yourself shifts from learning how to DIY all the skills in your business to learning how to lead a team, lead your business, and lead yourself.
After setting a revenue goal for your business, the next question on your mind might be, “How do I actually reach my goal?” If that’s you, then you’ll love this episode! In it, I dive even deeper into the actual math behind your revenue goal using real numbers to help you determine what to sell, at what price point, and to how many clients or customers.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:26 - I explain why figuring out how to hit your revenue goals can get a little tricky, especially if you follow so-called guru advice.
10:11 - You have to understand your sales conversion rate which varies based on what you’re selling, to who, and at what price point.
12:26 - What kind of sales call conversion rate do I see among people, even those without much sales experience?
14:53 - Let’s take a look at conversion rates of some other popular promotional methods.
22:56 - How do I know that the price point advice too many “gurus” give to entrepreneurs isn’t necessarily based on any real data?
27:39 - I discuss the biggest problems I see with offering a one-session service and my minimum price point recommendation for your signature offer.
31:39 - Here’s how building a baseline revenue with a higher-end offer can help you grow your income down the line, without sacrificing your time or salary.
34:55 - Remember this about each product, program, or service you create for your business.
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There’s a tale that’s rarely told in the business world. It’s a tale of two companies. Both make seven figures annually. But the business owners behind them receive a vastly different amount of money as actual take-home pay.
What happens once money comes into a business? Where does it go from there? The lack of real disclosure on this in online entrepreneurial circles has led to lots of people focusing solely on revenue goals, not their business’ actual profitability.
So in this episode, I break it all down, talk some numbers, and tell you exactly what it means to have a six-figure take home income, not just a six-figure business.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
3:29 - How much time do you have to invest in your business? Here’s how to take a look at your situation to see what works best for you.
7:16 - How much energy do you have available to you? And what do you need to do to maintain it?
9:48 - Instead of pulling a revenue goal out of thin air, ask yourself this question. I reveal the right way to come up with your number and a free resource you can use.
14:28 - I briefly mention why defaulting to your last salary as your revenue goal won’t work.
15:55 - I talk about what goes into running a business, how to use that information to reverse engineer your target, and a super simple way to figure out your revenue goal.
23:46 - Setting aside a little bit of your profits every month really starts to change the game and your perspective. I break down some percentages in detail.
31:08 - I look at the math behind a $100,000 annual revenue goal and how much you really need to earn to make that your take-home pay.
36:27 - How much tax are you going to pay at this point? This is where you’ll want to get yourself a good CPA.
39:10 - Before wrapping up, I go over the biggest piece of misinformation about growing a bigger business. It stops many from setting a higher revenue goal.
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You’ve seen the hype about small business and entrepreneurial success out there. It’s unreal! Not a day goes by when I don’t see photos of fancy cars, vacations, oodles of cash, and the typical success catch phrases that come with them on my social media.
Here’s the conundrum, though: when your business crosses into the territory of making seven or eight figures, it can quickly become less about doing what you love and more about grinding things out as an entrepreneur to meet demand.
So does bigger actually mean better for you? Or is big enough... enough? In today’s episode, I talk about why I believe in creating a big enough business to create an actual business and life you love.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
5:54 - I discuss what it was like growing up around entrepreneurs, and the surprising information I recently learned from my mother.
8:16 - Why should you beware of creating a business that grows too fast? I tell you what I’ve seen from businesses that experienced hyper growth.
10:02 - I retell a parable about a CEO and a fisherman that illustrates my point.
12:47 - I describe the time I was at a crossroads when I first heard the parable and the realization I came to after some reflection.
15:30 - The big questions I want you to ask about your revenue goals, and defining a Big Enough Business, the kind that loves you back.
17:10 - An early lesson in my business that serves as an example of why NOT to model your version of success after someone else.
20:05 - An example of what my "Big Enough Business" looks like and why it serves me in creating a business and life I love.
23:55 - How being intentional allows me to succeed without sacrificing my life and without causing me to be in a constant state of emergency in my business.
25:20 - How a big enough business allows you to live in your business sweet spot, and stop dreading Monday morning.
27:50 - How a big enough business and building a business and life you love will mean you must know your non-negotiables.
29:40 - Does focusing on a big enough business, mean you lack ambition?
34:00 - The questions I want you to ask to define your big enough business.
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